Val Lehman

Valerie Kathleen Lehman is an Australian actress and director, best known locally and internationally for her role as the antagonist "Top Dog" and self-styled Prisoner characters – inmates#Bea Smith|Queen Bea Smith] in the Australian TV series Prisoner for the first five series from 1979 until 1983 for 356 episodes.

Honours and awards

In 2021 she was awarded the Order of Australia "for significant service to the performing arts and wildlife conservation".
She received three Logie Awards for her performance; Best Lead Actress in a Series, Most Popular Actress in 1982 and Best Lead Actress in a Series in 1983. Lehman decided to leave the series towards the end of season five after becoming tired with playing the character. She recorded her final scenes on 13 May 1983 and made her final appearance in episode 400.

Career

Lehman has appeared in many other Australian television productions, mostly in guest roles. Prior to Prisoner she acted in the television series Bellbird and Tandarra. After Prisoner she appeared in The Flying Doctors, Army Wives, Something in the Air, Blue Heelers, All Saints and City Homicide.
In 2016, Lehman was a contestant on the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. On 6 March 2016 she was evicted from the jungle.
Lehman had a guest role on Neighbours in December 2017 as Joanne Schwartz, which reunited her with her former Prisoner co-star Colette Mann.
In 2018, Lehman joined former Prisoner co-stars Fiona Spence and Colette Mann for a cameo appearance in the series seven finale of Wentworth (TV series), but the cameo scene was scrapped when the series was renewed for a further 20 episodes.